Newsletter 2.22.24

WORCESTER COUNTRY CLUB

February 2024 V OL U ME 2

Flourless Chocolate Cake Chef’s Table February 15, 2024

F r o m 2 R ice St r eet The r e ’s light a t the e nd of the t unne l!

L o n g e r d a ys a n d w a r me r te mp e ra tu re s me a n s sp ri n g i s ri g h t a r o u n d th e co r n e r. Th e w i n te r h a s b e e n ve ry mi l d w h i ch i s g r e a t n e w s fo r th e g o l f co u r se . Ad a m a n d h i s te a m a re e va l u a ti n g th e g o l f co u rse o n a d a i l y b a si s a n d w e e xp e ct to h a ve so me i n fo rma ti o n so o n o n w h e n w e w i l l b e a b l e to o p e n .

Troy Sprister General Manager/COO

Th e h o u se a n d a cti vi ti e s co mmi tte e i s w o rki n g o n a re sto ra ti o n ce l e b ra ti o n sl a te d fo r th e w e e ke n d o f Fri d a y, Ma y 3 1 st th o u g h Su n d a y Ju n e 2 n d . Th e w e e ke n d w i l l i n cl u d e a ri b b o n cu tti n g ce re mo n y, g u e st sp e a ke r s, o u td o o r co n ce r t b y C a ra Bri n d i si , a n d g o l f e ve n ts. Mo re i n fo w i l l fo l l o w a s w e g e t cl o se r.

Th a n k yo u to a l l o f th e me mb e rs w h o h a ve u se d th e l i ste n i n g p o st a n d q u i ck p u l se to p ro vi d e u s w i th n e e d e d fe e d b a ck. Fo r th o se o f yo u w h o h a ve n o t u se d e i th e r o f th e se to o l s, th e re i s mo re i n fo rma ti o n i n th i s n e w sl e tte r to g e t yo u sta rte d .

We h a ve sch e d u l e d a va ri e ty o f u n i q u e e ve n ts to a p p e a l to a l l me mb e rs. We h o p e th a t yo u fi n d o n e yo u l i ke a n d th a t w e se e yo u a t th e cl u b .

Introducing

Quick Pulse!

How to get started: The next time you visit the club, please sign into our updated WCC Members wifi. It will ask you your name, phone number and member number. That’s it!

*** NEW! Sign in to WCC Members wifi in the month of February and be entered to win a dinner for 4!

Everyone who signs in with their name and member number has a chance to win!

In addition to the Quick Pulse, we have added a feature which allows you to leave feedback 24/7, positive or constructive.

Introducing

Listening Post!

We have added a link to the website and app titled Listening Post. This is an opportunity for you to share your comments, thoughts or recognize great service.

LEAP DAY

LEAP DAY AND LINE DANCING, A PERFECT PAIRING!

February 29, 2024 LINE DANCING CLASS AT 6:30PM DJ AND MORE DANCING UNTIL 9PM BRING YOUR BOOTS AND BE READY TO PARTY

PLEASE RSVP ONLINE

A Ab ¼· ·he Bl«d¯ a d Seed¯ Sip your drink of choice as we dive into a hands-on adventure exploring our feathered friends in the backyard, and the seeds that make them the VIPs of our world!

We'll make Feeders Nest Makers Seed Bombs and Paper

Thursday March 7, 2024 5-7pm $40 per person includes all supplies and gift

Please make reservations 508-853-8064 www.worcestercc.org

Chef’s Table

March 14th @ 6:30pm email Dawn: ZoppoD@Worcestercc.org

48 hour cancellation

only 6 spots left!

FRIDAY N E I I G V H O T M S CLU D B I K Ev y e r y f rid a

MUST SIGN UP ONLINE!

Must sign up by noon of that Friday, MAX 12 children per night Bring your child to watch a movie while you enjoy the evening!

Child supervision, Movie & Dinner provided $20 per child Open 5-9:30pm Dinner provided at 6:30pm Must cancel before noon to prevent charges

Sign up on the website!

www.kecamps.com

Gil Hanse restores Worcester CC course's historic character A $3.7 million project that started in August 2023 brings back the luster to course architect Donald Ross's original 1913 design Article by BRADLEY S. KLEIN FEB 15, 2024 Editor’s note: The First Call contributor Bradley S. Klein served as a consultant to golf course architect Gil Hanse on the Worcester Country Club restoration project. He provides an inside look at the project.

WORCESTER, Massachusetts — At Worcester Country Club in central Massachusetts there is a sense of history everywhere. A plaque on the first tee, for example, reminds golfers that this private club 42 miles west of downtown Boston was home to the 1925 U.S. Open, the first Ryder Cup in 1927 and the U.S. Women’s Open in 1960.

Replicas of those respective trophies are in a museum-like display in the Tudorstyle clubhouse. Another room honors Donald Ross, the designer of the 18-hole golf course who came here in 1913 and created a routing that has held up basically unchanged for more than a century.

The members of the original U.S. and British Ryder Cup teams still have their names adorning the wire-mesh lockers in the men’s changing room. And another plaque at the 11th tee honors Bobby Jones from that 1925 U.S. Open — not for having won (he came in second), but for calling a penalty on himself for a minor infraction at that hole that no one observed. “I might as well be honored for having walked by a bank without robbing it,” Jones observed.

Thanks to a restoration by Gil Hanse and his design team, Worcester Country Club can now lay claim to a golf course whose playing character befits its classical heritage. The work started in August 2023 and all but finished by the end of the year: new tees, completely rebuilt bunkering, fairway expansion, greens expansion and one entirely new green. What remains is only some tee reconstruction at the seventh hole following pond dredging that will take place later this year.

Total cost, inclusive of design fees, came to $3.7 million, paid for by a combination of on-hand capital and long-term borrowing, with no assessment or dues hike. The work took place without a complete shutdown of golf. Instead, parts of the course were closed to play sequentially, with golf variously limited to 15 holes, then 12, 10, seven, five and finally four by early November, when play would have effectively ended anyway. The few membership defections at the outset of the work have been more than compensated for by piqued interest and enrollments since.

“The membership inquiries are ringing off the hook,” club general manager Troy Sprister says. “Folks in Boston are rediscovering the beauty and value of golf in Worcester.”

It was something of a coup for the club to have landed the services of Hanse. He signed onto the job back in 2018 — despite a busy schedule of work at blueblood national championship courses worldwide — because “I was intrigued about the course and the possibilities of renewal. I saw some fascinating photographs of the place and thought we could make a major difference without blowing the place up.”

By then, Hanse’s restoration resume already included such Ross gems as Aronimink Golf Club in Pennsylvania, Brae Burn Country Club in Massachusetts, Lakewood Country Club in Colorado, Plainfield Country Club in New Jersey, Rochester Country Club in New York and Sakonnet Country Club in Rhode Island. Also, he had just signed on to do Oakland Hills Country Club in Michigan.

S o, ha vi n g wor ke d on a n art is t’ s oe u vre sp a nn i ng t hre e or fo ur d ec a des , as Han se h ad, he h ad l ea rn ed ab ou t su bt l e ty an d va rie t y.

Wh e n a ske d at an ea rl y in t er vie w at Worc es te r CC if he c ons ide re d h im se l f an exp e rt on Ross , Ha n se p au se d for a m om ent an d th e n t ol d t h e com m it t ee , “I’ m an e xp e rt on wh at Ross did he re .”

F ul l di sc los ur e. I p l aye d a m ode st con su l t in g rol e i n th e p roce ss , s er vin g as a l i ais on b e t we e n th e c l ub a n d Han se ’ s de sig n te a m.

M uc h of t h at in vol ve d m ak in g s ure t h e c lu b ’ s re p re s e nt a ti ve e xp re sse d t h ei r c onc e rn s ab ou t bu dg et an d t i mi ng w hi le a l low in g t h e Han se de si gn t ea m t o i mp l e me n t it s vi sion of re st orat ion w it h ou t m ic ro- ma na ge me n t . It h e lp s th at Ha ns e re li e s u p on c ryst al c l e ar hol e -b y- hol e p l an s c on ve ye d on sc al e d gr ap h pa p er — e ac h box re pre se n t s a 10 -y ard s qu are . It’ s a m et h od t ha t Ross r el i ed up on a s we l l from t he 1 92 0s on.

Th e re ’s n o dir ec t h an d- wri t te n r ec ord of Ros s’s p l an s for Wor ce st e r. Howe ve r, b a ck i n 1 91 3 , h e was a sol o p rac t it ion e r a n d h ad n ot ye t a sse mb l e d h is t ri o of t ru st e d a ide s — fi e ld d es ign e rs J .B . M cG ove rn an d Wa l te r Hat c h a n d ci vil e ng in ee r Wa l te r Irvi ng J ohn son . Th e ra w d at a f or e n visi oni n g t hi s r es tor at ion c am e from a s ma tt e ri ng of ori gin al c on st ru c t ion p hot os, im age ry an d p rog ram s from t h e 1 92 5 U .S .

O p e n, an d a h igh -a l t it u de ae ri al f rom th e m id- 19 30 s.

The hole-by-hole sequence of the course had not changed over the decades.

Extensive tree planting closed off many play corridors, however. Bunkers were shifted and invariably lost their flair. Greens shrank. Fairways had narrowed to accommodate the 90-foot diameter throw of single-row irrigation. In this way, Worcester had been transformed from an open, heathland style layout to a more conventional American parkland, with each hole narrowly ensconced in its own chute. One major design alteration occurred in the mid-1970s when Worcester's partially blind 11th green was raised by as much as 8 feet in the back, and flattened.

An initial effort to much of this had started in the late 1990s by architect Ron Prichard. Tree work, bunker renovation, greens expansion and the planting of some native fescue partially restored some lost character. But between the club’s hesitancy and lack of funding during some slower years, the effort stalled. By the time Hanse was called in, the club’s appetite had grown for more dramatic restoration. Still, it took a lot of internal club education and budget planning to prepare for what was in store.

It helped that Hanse’s hole-by-hole drawings easily translated into threedimensional plans so that budget planning could proceed. Without precise volumes for cuts and fills, bunker construction, green expansion and new teeing grounds, planning for materials acquisition, work sequencing, labor, equipment needs and subsequent maintenance budgeting becomes little more than backof-the envelope note taking. The precision that ensued from the original documentation of proposed work allowed for the work to proceed efficiently.

A key element was played by course superintendent Adam Moore (on the job since 2015), his lead assistant Scott Strong, and the entire maintenance crew. At some clubs, the superintendent shies away from the extra work that inevitably arises during restoration: expanded areas needing sod, bunkers that entail larger-than-planned areas of disturbance or newly discovered areas to be drained. Moore, by contrast, embraced each new task with an attitude of curiosity and interest that never flagged during the process.

Work proceeded on time despite rains that slowed things down on 14 out of 17 weekends. That washed out a couple of the club’s planned outdoor events but did not seem appreciably to impede the restoration. Tee work, focusing on new forward launch pads, had been done the year before, and tree work also had been in process for a few years prior to the major construction.

From the standpoint of aesthetics and playability, the restoration tied the features of the golf course together so that they became more integrated. Greens were expanded by 13% on average — from 6,880 to 7,780 square feet — and they now occupy the edge of their original fill pads and drip off into shortgrass or bunkers. Fairways were expanded from 28 to 32 acres to touch the entry point of bunkers and to make the ground game come alive. Trees were pulled back to establish more of a three-dimensional feel to each hole. And, across the site, interior vistas were opened up to a level that no one had seen for decades.

The p ar -7 0 l ay out a l so got st re t c he d in t wo d ire c t ion s. The b a ck te e s w e nt f rom 6,71 1 t o 6,90 0 w hi l e th e forw ard -m ost t e es we n t from 5 ,4 3 4 t o 4 ,907 . Th e re su l t i s a mor e e qu i ta b le se t o f t e e in g grou n ds for al l c l ass es of p l aye rs .

On c e Han se a nd hi s l e ad de sig ne r, Jim Wag ne r, ha d s ol i dif ie d p l an s an d b u dge t s, it was u p t o t h e ir tw o a ssoc ia te s , Ke vi n Mu rp hy a nd Be n Hil l ard, t o im pl e m en t th e b u l k of t he grou n dwor k . O n e or b oth of th e m wa s on h an d t h re e t o fou r days a we e k, i n a s ha pi n g ca p ac it y, re fin in g mow l in e s or s im pl y ma k in g su re s up e rin t e n de n t Moore an d th e MA S Gol f t e am we re i n syn c h. The y al l st aye d in con st a nt t ou c h wit h Han se t h rou gh a s tr ea m of e m ail s, te xt s a n d ca l ls . Work , on ce p rop e rl y p l a nn e d, doe s n ot n e e d a l ot of form al me e t in gs.

Han se di dn ’t ju st k e e p in t ou c h wh il e bu sy e l se wh er e in t he cou n t ry. O n a d oze n or so oc ca si on s h e w as on s igh t , u su a ll y on a sma l l doze r or e xca vat or, ke yi n g in c ru c ia l fe at u re s. The m ost dram at i c c am e at t he p ar -4 1 1t h g re en , t h e s ce n e of t ha t 5 0- ye ar old rai se d gr ee n t h at st u c k out l i ke a sore t h u mb . The b a ck w as low e re d b y a bou t 8 fe e t , down to wh at wa s p re su m e d as orig in al grad e.

Then came a complete rebuild of the surface, with Hanse crafting a new putting surface in a stint of intense work that allowed him to avoid any meet and greets or video documentation. He’ s happiest when geared up in the cab of a machine with his ear buds in, listening to a playlist heavily tilted toward the “Grateful Dead.”

It ’s al wa ys a st ra ng e pr oce ss t o wat c h t he e n t ire t y of c ou rse re st orat i on. Her e w as a c ou rse I t h ou ght I k ne w w e ll an d h ad c er ta in l y a dmi re d. An d y et w ha t ha s b e e n re vea l ed an d ope n e d u p du rin g five m on th s of work h as ma de t he p l ac e f e el l i ke an e n ti re l y dif fe re nt an d mu c h m ore i nt e re st in g gol f grou n d. Wha t st ar te d in 90- de gre e - pl u s h e at e n de d u p in t e m pe ra t ur es in t h e 20 s. I t’ s e a sy for gol fe rs t o ove rl ook h ow mu c h p h ysic a l l ab or is re q ui re d to t u rn t he c l oc k ba c k on a g olf c our se .

N ow, Worc e st e r sp ort s fa irwa ys n ot on l y e xp an de d b ut j oin e d at t he hi p in a wa y t h at ope n s u p t he e nt i re si t e. Th e b u n k e rs s ta n d o u t an d h e lp or ie n t p la ye rs w hi l e al so se rvi n g oc c asi on al l y as a su rp ris e for t h ose w ho h it th e b a ll t oo f ar or offl i ne . T h e d ropsh ot, p ar -3 1 0t h h ol e w as ac t u al l y s hort e n ed . The a p pr oac h in t o t he ne w gre e n on th e l on gis h p ar- 4 1 1t h h as b ee n tou gh e n e d b y c re at in g a shor t ca rry b u n k er in fron t th at e xt e n ds ac ros s, b u t s ti l l l ea ve s a 15 -y ard grou n d ga me e n t ry. An d t h e me m orabl e sh ort p ar4 18 t h n ow st a nd s ou t e ve n more f or it s sha rp l y b u nke re d gre e n.

The c ou rse re op e n s for m e mb e r p l ay i n t h e sp rin g of 2 0 24 . Th at ’ s wh e n th e wor d wi l l st art t o s pr ea d, a c ross tow n al l t he w ay to B ost on. An ot h er Ross ge m h as b ee n p ol ish e d.

Article first appeared on The First Call www.firstcallgolf.com

Bradley S. Klein Bradley S. Klein is a veteran golf journalist specializing in architecture and maintenance. A former PGA Tour caddie, Klein was architecture editor of Golfweek magazine for 28 years and the founding editor of Superintendent News before moving on to Golf Channel’s GolfAdvisor.com. He holds a doctorate in political science and was a university professor for 14 years in international relations and political theory before leaving academia in 1999 to devote himself fulltime to golf writing. Klein has published nine books on golf architecture and history, including “Discovering Donald Ross,” winner of the USGA 2001 International Book Award. In 2006, Klein was inducted into the International Caddie Hall of Fame. In 2015, he won the American Society of Golf Course Architecture’s Donald Ross Award for lifetime achievement. Klein has served as a consultant on numerous early golf course development and restoration projects, including Old Macdonald at Bandon (Ore.) Dunes; Olympia Fields (Ill.) Country Club; and Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio. He is working on master plans for Kennett Square (Pa.) Golf & Country Club; Country Club of Waterbury (Conn.); and Longmeadow (Mass.) Country Club.

Dining Hours February and March Wednesday-Saturday 5pm-9pm

Worcester Country Club Upcoming Events 2024

Adult Events

Family Events

2.24 Wine Dinner 3.14 Chef’s Table 4.18 Chef’s Table

2.23 Friday Movie Night (every Friday night) 2.23 and 2.24 Caddie Shack Pub Open (open Friday and Saturday nights in February and March) 2.29 Line Dancing for Leap Day 3/7 Birds & Seeds 3.16 St. Patrick’s Day Celebration 3/23 Egg Decorating 3.30 Egg Drop 3.31 Easter Brunch 5.12 Mother’s Day Brunch 5.25 Opening Pool Party 5.31-6.2 Restoration Celebration 6.30 Annual Fireworks

Look For More Pop-up Events As Well!

2024 Staff Contacts

508t853t8064 Main Clubhouse

Troy Sprister -General Manager- x101 Lynne Westerlind -Controller x102 Cynthia Petrillo - Assistant Controller x114 Lori Cook -Membership Director x103 Dawn Zoppo -Clubhouse Manager x106 Carly Hunter- F&B Manager x105 Craig Cobb -Executive Chef x107 John Beanh -Pool Director (104) Maria Gabriella -Admin/Communications x104 Adam Moore -Course Maintenance 508-853-6574

508t853t5087 ProShop Andrew Lane -PGA Pro - x141 Thomas Fernandes -Senior Assistant - x142

IS THERE A PHOTO YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE?

Afternoon Tea on February 17th

send your photos to GabriellaM@Worcestercc.org